1st day is in the books.

Total bust from a profit point of view , but great leaning experience. Sold 1-2.00 Italian sausage on a stick.   That’s right 1 for 2.00. In all fairness it was a bad day weather wise, almost call the set up off.  Rain and overcast till 3.30  was suppose to burn off but never did and the wind picked up.  Anyway now have a fair idea of what it takes to do a full setup and get food cooking and cooked.  My location has a traffic flow of 600-800 cars between 11 am and 3 pm  a day during the week. No food on that side of town but it  is the only way in town almost every comes that way to eat.  Line of sight is ½ mile both ways and a big very easy to enter parking lot, with a gas station on one side.  As I was standing there hoping the drizzle would stop, I did get a phone call to work a large farm auction next Saturday. 200-300 people expected and no were to eat for 25 miles. I have been to one of there auctions and there were a lot of people there.  Well first day in the books, not what I hoped for but it can only get better.  tim
The forum will not let me upload this picture so here is a link to a picture of my setup.
http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr360/97hw/SANY0017.jpg

hw9720


Total bust from a profit point of view , but great leaning experience. Sold 1-2.00 Italian sausage on a stick.   That’s right 1 for 2.00. In all fairness it was a bad day weather wise, almost call the set up off.  Rain and overcast till 3.30  was suppose to burn off but never did and the wind picked up.  Anyway now have a fair idea of what it takes to do a full setup and get food cooking and cooked.  My location has a traffic flow of 600-800 cars between 11 am and 3 pm  a day during the week. No food on that side of town but it  is the only way in town almost every comes that way to eat.  Line of sight is ½ mile both ways and a big very easy to enter parking lot, with a gas station on one side.  As I was standing there hoping the drizzle would stop, I did get a phone call to work a large farm auction next Saturday. 200-300 people expected and no were to eat for 25 miles. I have been to one of there auctions and there were a lot of people there.  Well first day in the books, not what I hoped for but it can only get better.  tim
The forum will not let me upload this picture so here is a link to a picture of my setup.
http://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr360/97hw/SANY0017.jpg

You have the right attitude "things will get better AND you learned from the day"  Weather plays a big role on how people feel about going out and or stopping while they are out. You needed to get your first day over with to move on to better days so I would look at it that way... I hope you thanked the one customer you had and since he/she was the only one then I would expect they got outstanding service! I look forward to reading other post from you as many have done here at Roadffod that speak of what a great day you had and of all the product you sold. It's just like cars sells, the month, day, what ever when you sell a boat load you should hold those memories AND money for those days that you don't sell jack. When you have a great day review what you did to make it great, when you have a bad day review what happened and try to avoid repeating it if possible. We all learn, the problem starts when you don't want to learn anymore or you think you know everything. Hang in there! I'm pulling for you.
 
Be well

Maybe it was your tent......


Just kidding.... Glad to see you got out there anyway, even with the weather issues.  Good days will be ahead and hopefully good weather will be also.



Oh BTW...

Go Horns!!!!!!!!!  Hook Em!

Congratulations on your first day!  Are you sure you're at a good location?  I'm not in the food business, rather have a retail store - but there are on average 34,000 cars per day that pass by it.    I'm gathering that your location does maybe 5000-10,000 a day at most?   I get frustrated because I have been at same spot since 1998 and have a 8ft x 12ft. sign with an $40,000 electronic LED sign as well, and every single day I have people go  "oh wow, nice store, how long have you been here?"  and when I tell them over 10 years they look at me like well if you're going to lie about it!  and they turn around and walk out!  People constantly telling me they've never notice I existed.   Don't get me wrong, I really can't handle any more business, I'm currently about 2 1/2 weeks behind in work load and until last week was about 5 weeks behind.   It's just funny to me that people don't notice their surroundings.

I spent 20 years in the pawn business from the smallest shop in Texas to the 3 largest in  U.S. I  am a student and believer  in traffic studies and consumer habit  studies.  I have watch the some of the  same people drive by a location on almost a regular everyday  basis  (7000 square foot store for 5 years). When they stop in I get the same question as you. How long you been here. The store has been here over ten years and they were born and raised here. People get lost in there own world when they drive. I am the opposite when I drive I am always looking at everything wondering how I can profit off of this Idea or that idea or what I could sell something for.  As far as my location I am betting it is a good location as 10000 cars equal at minimum almost  1/3 of the population of the town (38000). Nice thing about the cart gig you can always move.  I do no plan on relying on this location only. I have approached  retail businesses about Saturday  and sale setups  and have three confirmed locations. My Coke supplier wants me to set up at there building once a month. High school across the street and a collage around the corner  and 500 workers in a ¼ mile radius and no food with in 3 miles.  I am really wanting to work the  farm, equipment and cattle  auction circuited. Think about 100-300 people  out in the middle of nowhere 10 to 30 miles from food. Most of these here start at 10 am and they sell off the little stuff and at 12 they start on the big ticket items.
Well they get hungry and do not want to leave so they wont miss anything.  It wont take but 3 or 4 of those a month to make a pretty good chuck of change, and since most of the people are from the area and I am in the only town of any size around. What a way to build a customer base, plus the nice thing about a auction the people there came to spend money.
Anyway a ton of plans and only 24 hours a day to try them out.  I have three favorite sayings,
“Onward though the fog “ -” Endeavor to persevere”  and “ what don’t kill you will make you stronger”.
Thanks for all the support and never be afraid to try something  you believe in. What’s the worst that can happen? Better to fail then never to try.  tim

I would put up a sign "BEEP IF YOUR A SOONER FAN"  and then wave at them and they willl feel bad for not stopping.Who the heck in Oklahoma isn't a Sooner fan..........................Is the sign with the arrow advertising a Mexican movie ???????????????/////  Good luck.......Bill

No it is a bar sign. Went out yesterday and setup. Did 54.00 in sales.  The people that stopped were happy I was there. Going to take some time to get known but I think it is a good spot. Hope to do 75.00 to 100.00 today.  Am doing a big farm auction on Saturday should be between 150 to 300 people. A member of the  chamber of commerce came by and invited me to a deal they are putting on in June where the venders keep 100% of the proceeds. Well off to slave over a hot hot dog cart. tim

People are very susceptible to "situational blindness," especially while driving.  I'm a big offender.  I was the passenger in a car for the first time in a while and was noticing all kinds of things and places I never knew existed.